Priming Take 2 and First Drilling

 So I had to redo my priming setup based on the issues found during my first session.  Luckily I had some scrap wood lying and I had an idea.  I went to the hardware store and got some wire netting which I stapled across the wood as a frame.  It allowed me to spray down and through the frame with no issues of sticking.  I quickly flipped the parts over and sprayed again without issue.

After ironing out my priming setup, I moved onto match drilling the J stiffeners.  They require you to mount at a specific measurement and drill along the length.  It is a lot of holes to match drill on one flange alone.  With some manipulating and moving as I went, it took me about an hour to do the top flange.  I am going to do all of the countersinking and river the nutplates before I flip the spar and do the bottom flange. I figured this would be easier instead of continuously flipping this spar over repetitively.  I now need to setup the counter sink cages and get those dialed in.

The new priming setup.  This worked much better than the paper itself.  

In other news, I received notification today that my empennage kit is finally shipping out today.  Its exciting to think that I will have a tail kit next week sometime.  However, I need to make space on the garage floor for it to sit.  My wing spars need to be stored appropriately and the minds at be seem to think storing them flat is optimal.  I am currently debating finishing the one wing so it can be put into the wing stand, but I am not sure.  I am very torn as it would be a great way to store the parts and open up additional space, however the work would take me quite awhile to do.  The other option is to put the spar back as it is, move some parts around and deal with the tail kit right away.  Either way I will be looking for space to store things as I continue building.  I'll post back what I decide to do in the next update.

The Day Has Come....

 Well after a long anticipated wait, the first kit arrived yesterday.  I was a bit disappointed to be starting on the wings before the tail, but I am glad to at least have something to work on.  I am waiting for one or two more parts for my Air Hose system.  I opted to buy the Rapid Air Products RapidAir System.  This was a good setup as it had 100 feet worth of hose and two outlets.  It would allow me to setup a drop down reel, and remote reel by the garage, and keep my compressor in the back of my garage.  I am trying to maximize the distance from the bedrooms to the compressor so I can hopefully work in the evening after my kids are asleep.  Time will tell how that plan will work out, I might be limited to certain tasks only late in the evening.  I am going to do another post about that system and my feelings on the setup for it.

The Truck Has Arrived.

Wings Are In Transit!

    Well the news has arrived and my wing kit is now on a truck crossing the country.  I expect the local depot to have it next Thursday, so I presume I will take delivery early the following week.  Now I need to get in gear and finish up prep work.  I just received my RapidAir air hose kit and hung my hose reel in the garage.  I need to stop and grab some mounting gear at the hardware store and to tackle that this week.

    In other news, I received an "estimated" crate date for Early-Mid May for the empennage kit.  I am debating starting my wings until that comes, but we'll see how long that progress takes at first.  It might be worthwhile to wait until the tail comes and just start that. The issue is going to be storing all of it at once, my garage will be quite full with three full crates there. 

    I will try to get some pictures of the RapidAir kit and hose setup as I get the install completed and done.  Then to finish doing the DRDT2 table is on the hit list.

Progress...

So news came yesterday via email. Our wing kit is ready to be scheduled for crating and Van's wants all of my money. I was a bit shocked as we haven't heard anything on the tail kit still. I requested more information but still haven't heard back. I decided to query some other builders and my local EAA Tech Advisor for their opinions.  A lot of people seemed to believe if I wanted to spend time prepping all of the wing kit, that would eat up alot of my time. Then hopefully I will get my tail kit while i'm working on that. Worst case scenario, I finish up the prep work and start on the smaller surfaces. Only time will tell, but I am excited to at least get some information about one of the kits coming. Since I might be getting the wingsn first, I decided to do some research into wing items. The biggest thing that I eventually have to decide will definitely be the lighting. I am torn between the FlyLED's products which are highly recommended and liked by many builders. The other option is the Aveo ZipTips which are a one piece fit all where all lighting is built into the wingtips. However, I have heard a few things about them which doesn't make me happy. I have heard the trailing edge doesn't quite match the ailerons on many planes, the assembly is delicate and some had issues, and the shipping can take quite awhile. To not help matters, the ZipTips are probably triple the cost of FlyLED's solutions.

FlyLED's Original Lighting

Aveo ZipTips

The downside to the FlyLED's is that I probably will need to cut into my wing leading edge for the landing light install. This isn't a super big deal, but it definitely makes you nervous. I have to do some more research into the Van's light kit and an aftermarket one from Duckworks. The duckworks seem to have better documentation, but some of the online talk suggests they have a smaller lens. Will have to report back. Now to wait for more details on when the kit will actually ship or more details on the tail kit.